Method of gaming and a gaming system

ABSTRACT

A gaming system comprising a plurality of player terminals, each comprising a player display and a player instruction input mechanism, and a game controller coupled to the player terminals and arranged to cause each player display to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals, whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction input mechanism, receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players, and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Australian Patent Application No. AU2007900215, having an international filing date of Jan. 17, 2007, entitled “A Method of Gaming And A Gaming System”, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

This application relates to a method of gaming, a gaming system, and a game controller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general electronic gaming machines are played individually by players for the opportunity to be awarded prizes based on the game outcomes on the machine they are playing. However, there have been proposed some ways in which players may interact with one another.

For example, some venues host tournaments where players of individual machines compete against each other by seeking to obtain the largest score in the tournament on the gaming machine they are playing (for example, as reflected by their credit balance).

Some electronic gaming machines are linked to provide each of a plurality of players with a chance to play a bonus game individually. For example, each player plays a base game and may be awarded a chance to play a bonus game having a progressive jackpot contributed to by the machines of all participating players.

There is a need for other gaming systems where players can interact with one another.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, there is disclosed a method of gaming comprising:

displaying on each player display of a plurality of displays at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player display independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player displays;

receiving one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and

processing the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.

Thus, players compete against one another while completing the task independently.

In an embodiment, one criterion is the time taken to complete the task.

Thus, players may obtain enjoyment by seeking to complete the displayed task in the shortest period of time.

In an embodiment, the task is identical. In another embodiment, each player's task is different. In an embodiment, the different tasks may be arranged to be equivalent in difficulty.

In an embodiment, the method comprises awarding a prize to the winning player.

In an embodiment, the method comprises displaying the starting portion of the task in response to a trigger event.

In an embodiment, the method comprises displaying the starting portion of the task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event in a base game played by one of the players.

In an embodiment, the method comprises providing the player who triggered the bonus game with an advantage to complete the task. For example, clue data, a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time. In the case of a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time, at least one of these may be an additional criteria to determining a winning player.

Thus, while each player can win the bonus game, the player who triggered the bonus game is provided with an advantage over other players.

In an embodiment, the method comprises displaying a starting instruction to each player at the same time.

In an embodiment, the sole criteria is which player takes the least time to complete the task.

In an embodiment, the task is to complete a memory game.

In an embodiment, the task is to complete a labyrinth game.

In a second aspect, there is disclosed a gaming system comprising:

a plurality of player terminals, each comprising a player display and a player instruction input mechanism; and

a game controller coupled to the player terminals and arranged to:

cause each player display to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals, whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction input mechanism;

receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and

process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria

In a third aspect there is disclosed a game controller arranged to:

cause each display of a plurality of player displays to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals, whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction mechanism;

receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and

process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.

In a fourth aspect, there is disclosed computer program code which when executed by a computer causes the computer to carry out a computer implemented method of gaming comprising:

displaying on each player display of a plurality of displays at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player display independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player displays;

receiving one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and

processing the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.

In a fifth aspect, the invention provide a computer readable medium comprising the program code of the fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the invention provide a data signal comprising the program code of the fourth aspect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be describe in relation to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a gaming system;

FIG. 2 is a perspective drawing of an electronic gaming machine; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the method of an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a gaming system of an embodiment arranged such that during a bonus game, the same task is presented to each player of the bonus game and the players compete to see who can complete the task in the shortest amount of time.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the gaming system 100 comprising a plurality of player terminals 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D in data communication with a game controller 120 over a data network. Players operate the individual player terminals to play a base game.

A terminal in the gaming system may take the general form of an electronic gaming machine 10 as illustrated in FIG. 2. The gaming machine 10 includes a console 12 having a display 14 on which is displayed representations 16 of a base game and the bonus game that can be played by a player. A mid-trim 20 of the gaming machine 10 houses a bank of buttons 22 for enabling a player to interact with the gaming machine, in particular during game play. The mid-trim 20 also houses a credit input mechanism 24 which in this example includes a coin input chute 24A and a bill collector 24B. Other credit input mechanisms may also be employed, for example, a card reader for reading a smart card, debit card or credit card. A reading device may also be provided for the purpose of reading a player tracking device, for example as part of a loyalty program. The player tracking device may be in the form of a card, flash drive or any other portable storage medium capable of being read by the reading device.

A top box 26 may carry artwork 28, including for example pay tables and details of bonus awards and other information or images relating to the game. Further artwork and/or information may be provided on a front panel 29 of the console 12. A coin tray 30 is mounted beneath the front panel 29 for dispensing cash payouts from the gaming machine 10.

The display 14 shown in FIG. 2 is in the form of a video display unit, particularly a cathode ray tube screen device. Alternatively, the display 14 may be a liquid crystal display, plasma screen, or any other suitable video display unit. The top box 26 may also include a display, for example a video display unit, which may be of the same type as the display 14, or of a different type. In one embodiment, the bonus game is displayed on the top box.

The display 14 may be a touch screen display on which are displayed icons that may be touched by the player to issue player instructions. Thus, depending on the specific nature of the terminal or the features of the game being played on the gaming machine, buttons 22, a touch screen component of display 14, or a combination thereof provide the player instruction input mechanisms 114 shown in FIG. 1.

That is, each player terminal comprises a player instruction input mechanism 114 operable by the player to play the base game and the bonus game and a display 112 on which the base and bonus games are displayed. Players play the base game independently using player terminals. Depending on the embodiment, the base game may be implemented on the terminals 110 with each terminal 110 being provided with a respective game controller, on the game controller 120 (or on another game controller) or a combination thereof. In the embodiment, the player terminals are clients and the game controller 120 is embodied on a server. That is, all game outcomes are calculated by the game controller 120 in response to player instructions input by the players of terminals 110 and communicated to game controller 120. To this end, game controller 120 is configured to run a plurality of separate base game instances, one for each player terminal 110 that is being operated. Thus, the base game instances are in effect separate game controllers for each terminal 110.

It will thus be appreciated that in this embodiment, the game controller 120 is constituted by the processor or processors of the server executing program code stored in a memory accessible by the processor to thus carry out the various functions of the base game controller 125 and bonus game controller 140. Person skilled in the art will appreciate that in other embodiments, the game controller could be constituted differently, for example, in or more of the components 142, 144, 146, 148 could be provided by a dedicated circuit. It will also be appreciated that each terminal has a processor arranged to execute code in a memory to implement the functions required of the terminal. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminals and the server will have other standard computing and/or gaming machine components to enable the embodiment to be put into effect, such as network cards, power supplies etc.

Rules for communication between the server and the gaming machines enable the bonus system to operate within a “machine time scale” and a “player perceptible time scale”. In the machine time scale the system is capable of detecting events and determine consequences for the different players in the base game mode as well as in the bonus game mode before events or player actions have occurred in the player perceptible time scale. For example, this makes it possible to send messages to the gaming terminals and prepare for selected actions before the player has come to the actual stage in his player action.

The base game controller 125 has a bonus game monitor 130 that monitors each base game instance to determine whether the specified criteria for initiating a bonus game are met. In the embodiment, the criterion is that a particular game outcome occurs in one base game instance. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that any appropriate criteria can be used to trigger the bonus game, for example, an amount wagered, an amount contributed to an elapsed time or the like. When the criterion is met, the bonus game monitor 130 communicates to the bonus game controller 140 that the bonus game should be started. In some embodiments, this may involve setting up the bonus game controller by executing the bonus controller code. In other embodiments, the bonus game controller may already exist in a wait state.

Bonus game controller 140 initiates the action required to start the bonus game. This includes negotiating with the base game controller 125 as to when the bonus game is to start. That is, while one player has triggered the game and will be expecting the bonus game to begin, the other players need to be “interrupted” in a manner that does not unduly interfere with game play in their base game instance. In the embodiment, the base game controller 125 instructs each base game instance that the base game is to be paused and saved in a memory of the game controller at the end of the next game round and the bonus game announced to the player by displaying on each player display that a bonus game is about to start.

Once each base game is paused and saved, the base game controller 125 communicates data to the bonus game controller 140 specifying the identity of the participating player terminals and that they are ready to begin, thus passing control to the bonus game controller 140.

A bonus game generator of the bonus game controller 140 generates a bonus game instance for each participating player based on bonus game data 144. The bonus game controller confirms that each bonus game instance is ready to proceed, then starts the bonus game by controlling each display 112 to display the starting portion of the task to be completed by the player in the bonus game at substantially the same time.

In the embodiment, the bonus game is a memory game. The display controller 142 of bonus game controller 140 controls each display to briefly display a number of symbols on each display 112, there being two of each symbol. The symbols are then “covered” so that they are not visible to the player but there is an icon corresponding to each symbol. The players' task is to be the first to pair all the symbols. That is, the player inputs player instructions via instruction input mechanism 114 to specify two symbols the player believes match. The instructions are processed by instruction processor 146 and each symbol is “revealed” to the player on display 112. If they match, the symbols are maintained in a revealed state otherwise they are returned to a covered state and the player may then select another two symbols. The player is required to continue to try to select pairs of symbols until all pairs have been revealed. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that in some cases not every player will input player instructions. For example, one player may complete the task before another has entered any instructions.

When a player matches all the pairs, a completion monitor 148 of the bonus game controller 140 determines that they are the winning player for being the first to complete the task and awards the player a prize, for example an amount of credits. The display controller 142 controls each display 112 to display that the game has been won before returning control to the base game controller 125 which restarts each base game instance.

In the embodiment, the player who triggered the bonus game is provided with an advantage to complete the bonus game first. For example, by having one or more symbols permanently revealed or a first pair of symbols revealed.

This process is summarised in the flowchart of FIG. 3. The process starts 310 when players begin playing the base game and monitoring 320 occurs for triggering of the base game. Until the base game is triggered, the bonus controller 140 waits 325 for a trigger command. When a bonus game is triggered, it is determined that all participants are ready 330 (if not the process waits 335), a bonus game is generated 340 for each participant, and the bonus game is started 350. The bonus game controller 140 monitor 360 then determines whether a player has finished and waits 365 until a player has finished. The bonus game controller awards 370 a prize to the winning player.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that in the above embodiment, players compete in real-time to be the first to complete the memory task thus making an exciting competition. Thus, the first person to complete the game in real-time will be the winner.

In other embodiments, implementation requirements may lead to an off-set in starting time between players. This can be dealt with by generating timing information corresponding to when each player starts and finishes and determining a winning player to be the player who took the least time.

In some embodiments other information may be displayed to players during play of the bonus game, for example, the status of other players, for example the top 5, can be displayed on each of the displays of the gaming machines that participate in the bonus game.

In some embodiments, other criteria may be used to determine the winner as an alternative to, or in addition to time taken. For example, a time adjustment may be awarded to the player who triggered the bonus game (or this player's game may be started first to give the player a head start). In another example, accuracy (e.g. the fewest errors) may be the key criterion taken into account or may be used as an additional criterion to, for example by providing a time bonus to be used as a criteria for deciding the game. In another example, players may be given a time limit to complete the task and the criterion may be degree of completion of the task in the time period.

In the above description it is assumed that players are provided with the same task but it would also be possible to provide the players with different tasks of equivalent difficulty to prevent players from copying one another. It would also be possible to provide an advantage by making one of these tasks easier than the others such that at least tow of the terminals have different tasks

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that a number of different tasks can be employed. For example, an alternative memory game where a set of symbols are presented to each player briefly before being removed so that a player can learn the symbols. A larger number of symbols can then be displayed, with the task being to be the first to find and mark the originally displayed set of symbols. Another example, is a labyrinth game, where a series of alternative “doors” are displayed to the player and the player is required to be the first to successfully navigate to the end point.

It will be appreciated from the above that a distributed architecture is provided wherein some of the components required for implementing the game are present in a player operable gaming machine and some of the components required for implementing the game are located remotely relative to the gaming machine. The above embodiment employs a “thin client” architecture wherein most of the game is executed remotely by a gaming server and a player operable gaming machine is used only to display audible and/or visible gaming information to the player and receive gaming inputs from the player. In an alternative embodiment, a “thick client” architecture may be used wherein part of the game is executed on a player operable gaming machine and part of the game is executed remotely, such as by a gaming server.

However, it will be understood that other arrangements are envisaged. For example, an architecture may be provided wherein a gaming machine is networked to a gaming server and the respective functions of the gaming machine and the gaming server are selectively modifiable. For example, the gaming system may operate in stand alone gaming machine mode, “thick client” mode or “thin client” mode depending on the game being played, operating conditions, and so on. For example, the base game may be executed on the gaming machine with the bonus game executed by the server—i.e. a base game controller could be provided on each of the player terminals and a player terminal could communicate with the base game controller once the bonus game is triggered Other variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.

Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that the method of the embodiment could be embodied in program code arranged to be executed by the game controller. The program code could be supplied in a number of ways, for example on a computer readable medium, such as a disc or a memory (for example, that could replace part of memory 103) or as a data signal (for example, by downloading it from a server).

Many other variations and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and should be considered as falling within the scope of the invention described herein.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of certain embodiments of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word “comprise” or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. 

1. A method of gaming comprising: displaying on each player display of a plurality of player displays at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player display independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player displays; receiving one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and processing the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a criterion is the time taken to complete the task.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tasks displayed on at least two displays are different.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the different tasks are arranged to be equivalent in difficulty.
 6. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the different tasks are arranged to be of different difficulties.
 7. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising awarding a prize to the winning player.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising displaying the starting portion of the task in response to a trigger event.
 9. A method as claimed in claim 8, comprising displaying the starting portion of the task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event in a base game played by at least one of the players.
 10. A method as claimed in claim 9, comprising determining which player triggered the bonus game and providing the player who triggered the bonus game with an advantage to complete the task.
 11. A method as claimed in claim 10, comprising providing the triggering player with a clue to provide the advantage.
 12. A method as claimed in claim 10, comprising providing a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time and employing the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to determining a winning player.
 13. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising displaying a starting instruction to each player at the same time.
 14. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task.
 15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the task is to complete a memory game.
 16. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game.
 17. A gaming system comprising: a plurality of player terminals, each comprising a player display and a player instruction input mechanism; and a game controller coupled to the player terminals and arranged to: cause each player display to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals, whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction input mechanism; receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.
 18. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein a criterion is the time taken to complete the task.
 19. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task.
 20. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the game controller is arranged to allocate different tasks to at least two player terminals.
 21. A gaming system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the different tasks are equivalent in difficulty.
 22. A gaming system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the different tasks are of different difficulties.
 23. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the game controller is arranged to award a prize to the winning player.
 24. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display the starting portion of the task in response to a trigger event.
 25. A gaming system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display starting portion of the task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event in a base game played by at least one of the players.
 26. A gaming system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the game controller is arranged to determine which player triggered the bonus game and provide the player who triggered the bonus game with an advantage to complete the task.
 27. A gaming system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the triggering player with a clue to provide the advantage.
 28. A gaming system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the triggering player with a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time and employing the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to determining a winning player.
 29. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display a starting instruction to each player at the same time.
 30. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task.
 31. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the task is to complete a memory game.
 32. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game.
 33. A gaming system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the game controller is constituted by a processor executing program code stored in a memory.
 34. A game controller arranged to: cause each display of a plurality of player displays to display at least a starting portion of a task for completion by a player associated with the player terminal independently of a player or players associated with one or more other player terminals, whereby each player may seek to complete the task independently of each other player by operating their respective player instruction mechanism; receive one or more player instructions related to completion of the task from at least one of the players; and process the player instructions to determine a winning player based on one or more criteria.
 35. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein a criterion is the time taken to complete the task.
 36. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the task displayed on each display is identical to each other task.
 37. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the game controller is arranged to allocate different tasks to at least two player terminals.
 38. A game controller as claimed in claim 37, wherein the different tasks are equivalent in difficulty.
 39. A game controller as claimed in claim 37, wherein the different tasks are of different difficulties.
 40. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the game controller is arranged to award a prize to the winning player.
 41. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display the starting portion of the task in response to a trigger event.
 42. A game controller as claimed in claim 41, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display starting portion of the task as a bonus game in response to a trigger event in a base game played by at least one of the players.
 43. A game controller as claimed in claim 42, wherein the game controller is arranged to determine which player triggered the bonus game and provide the player who triggered the bonus game with an advantage to complete the task.
 44. A game controller as claimed in claim 43, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the triggering player with a clue to provide the advantage.
 45. A game controller as claimed in claim 43, wherein the game controller is arranged to provide the triggering player with a time adjustment or an adjusted starting time and employing the time adjustment or adjusted starting time as an additional criterion to determining a winning player.
 46. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the game controller is arranged to cause each display to display a starting instruction to each player at the same time.
 47. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the sole criterion is which player takes the least time to complete the task.
 48. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the task is to complete a memory game.
 49. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, wherein the task is to complete a labyrinth game.
 50. A game controller as claimed in claim 34, constituted by a processor executing program code stored in a memory.
 51. Computer program code which when executed by a computer causes the computer to carry out a computer implemented method of gaming in accordance with the method of claim
 1. 52. A computer readable medium comprising the program code of claim
 51. 